"Look, we are very happy with the situation, we have been living in this sorbet everyday since last week and the level of it is rising day by day, we have built bamboo structures inside the houses and the children got a field to play, we hardly cook and every day we are giving interviews to TV channels and newspapers...but is there any information you have that might save us?" Rina blurted out.

In the low lying Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra dam area the level of trapped rainwater rose by three inches, and the four pumps with their very modest combined capacity of pumping out 512 cusec of water everyday, have completely failed to tackle the situation.

Shimrail pump house sources yesterday said the water level at different points of the DND dam area reached to 10-12 feet above the ground, while the depth of the DND canal is only 6.5 feet. Due to siltation at various points the canal lost its original depth at those places and overflowing.

Waterlogging on Matuail Medical Road, at Shyamnagar, and Shahidnagar can be considered as disasters with people crossing roads by boats, living in the same room with domestic animals, and eating only dried rice, puffed rice, biscuits and bananas.

Amid such a disaster boat sellers are however earning quick bucks.

Nurunnobi, a boat maker, said in the last five or six days they sold at least five boats a day. A 16 feet long and 3 feet wide boat is selling for TK 2,800, he said.

"I hope within this week we will be selling the same type of boat for Tk 4,000, and if the flood continues for long the price will go up some more", he added.

Besides, a good number of people have temporarily changed their professions and started ferrying people from one place to another in exchange for fees.

Mohammad Inamul Haque, director general of Water Resources Planning Organisation under the Ministry of Water Resources, told The Daily Star that it is not possible to evacuate 10 lakh people from the dam area. Water Development Board already has a project that recommended increasing the number of pumps by three to four times. "We have to increase the number of pumps as soon as possible," he said.

Meanwhile, Save the Environment organised a seminar on 'waterlogging in the city and what should be done for immediate remedy' in the conference room of the daily Amar Desh, where the speakers said the accumulated water is finding no outlet despite having several rivers like the Buriganga, Sitalakkhya, Balu and the Turag around the capital.

Amanullah Kabir, editor of the Amar Desh, in his speech as the chief guest, observed that unplanned construction of buildings in Dhaka city is responsible for the crisis, not the rainfall.

Engineer MA Sobhan presented the keynote speech where he recommended rehabilitation of the lost canals without delay. He said, "The problem of waterlogging in the city has deteriorated with the existing drainage system getting clogged by rubbish. Some careless city residents dump all sorts of rubbish in the drains blocking free flow of water."

The speakers at the seminar stressed on coordination among all utility service providers including Wasa, DCC, WDB, the Department of Environment, Rajuk, Land Directorate and the rail authorities.

Abu Naser, president of Save the Environment Movement also spoke.